I've given myself musical projects for the last two years, but usually I'm sick of them by the fall. So I'm going to try to give myself simpler projects this year.
The first project is to listen to a concerto from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, one of Bach's Brandenburg Concerti, and one of Bach's orchestral suites everyday. I've mentioned doing this in a few places. I've amended it a bit so that I'm listening to the whole piece and not just individual movements. Here's a chart of how I'm cycling through them:
In the fall of 2014, I started thinking about doing an-other project where I try to learn every part to every song by a particular band. I've been doing this with the Zombies' music since 2012, and - while I'm still a long way from finishing (and probably never will) - it's been a really interesting experience and often enlightening. Even though I haven't learned all of the parts yet, I've discovered a lot about the music that's made me appreciate it a great deal more.
So I started doing this same thing for the Alan Parsons Project and the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and SMiLE (at some future point, I might include other Beach Boys' albums too). Like my corresponding project with the Zombies, I'll probably never finish these, but if they turn out to be even sort of similar, they'll definitely be worth doing.
I'm also going to try to get better at piano by learning a piano piece every month (or some other keyboard part). Lately, I've been practicing a piano transcription that Grieg did of a Norwegian folk song, but I'll probably also learn some more recent things. (I've had my eye [ear?] on the piano part in Buddy Holly's "Think It Over" for awhile now.) I might try to use more keyboard instruments in my own music too, although probably just in a doubling capacity. I think this same sort of thing (using keyboard instruments, particularly piano, to strengthen some parts) is done on some Kinks songs, a few Beach Boys albums (like Today! and Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!)), and the Beatles' Help!.
The only other projects I'm going to do are continuations of projects I'm already doing - annual participation in FAWM and 50/90, Hymnal Habitation, and the Classical Music Queue. Starting on 10 May, I'll listen to all of the LPs in Funk & Wagnalls' Family Library of Great Music, like I've done for the last two years. And I'll probably end up writing a lot about music too.
